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[* (Total Content is 8,800+ Words) *]

Table of Contents

WHY I WROTETHISBOOK 2

Strategy # 1 5

Strategy # 2 7

Strategy # 3 8

Strategy # 4 10

Strategy # 5 13

Strategy # 6 15

Strategy # 7 17

Strategy # 8 19

Strategy # 9 22

By The Same Author 23

Contacting The Author 23

[]WHY I WROTETHISBOOK

As a result of writing over 30 books (thus far) there is hardly a week that goes by that someone somewhere doesn’t ask me how to write their own book.

In January 2015 I gave two mini-seminars titled; “Finish That Book You’re Writing” in both Sydney and Melbourne. Many who came took reams of notes; some even recorded my message on their iPhones. It was very uplifting to see new potential authors get inspired and a few new books came out on Amazon as a direct result of the talks I gave.

Due to many people attending my talks, this book became a necessity. I’ve tried to include more details in this book than the talks I gave to help you get more insight and direction for your new book.

As a direct result of the talks and seminars I’ve given in the last few years, I’ve helped over two dozen authors create something like 20 plus books in either print or kindle form. I get just as much a thrill out of seeing others release their books from my talks as if I did so myself.

My desire for you is that you will feel the thrill and satisfaction from publishing your own book in the very near future and that your book will reach many others around the world and touch people.

Be bold and go forward on this amazing journey!

How my first book came about …

Writing a book is not always easy, I wrote my first book back in late 1985, after would you reckon a heated argument at a temp job I was at and a staff member who picked my brains for weeks on end about the topic of writing and self-publishing. Every time I brought in some notes and photo copied some material to answer a question for him he routinely found a reason why it wasn’t going to work.

One night at home I had invited a friend over for dinner and when I told her the story about this guy at work she said “Ask him if he’s got a manuscript, I might be able to help him get published.”

With this amazing reply from a very attractive friend I walked into the office next day and said to him “Hey, I’ve got a friend who can help you, do you have manuscript she might be able to get you published.”

His reply was a letdown that set me on fire …he said; “Oh I don’t have anything written yet, I just tell my kids stories before their bed time and I was wondering if I should write a book.”

I then got into him as he’d spent the last 3 weeks being very critical of all the info I brought into him to read and to find out he had nothing written I felt he wasn’t even serious anyway.

This was the straw on the camel’s back for me

Leading up to that time I was giving a talk about how people could break the ice and make new friends. It was a talk that grew out of another personal incident in my later school years, but a story I was telling in speeches on a regular basis at that time.

After the heated exchanges with the brain picker at the office I went home to my wife (I was married back then) and said to her I’m going to write that book about my favourite speech topic. She said great I’ll help you with editing the book. (My late wife Liz was a ‘straight A student’ and tops at English in her high school pass mark). I also placed an advert in a magazine 2 months before I had even written the book – so thus I was motivated to complete my new book on time.

6 weeks later I had my book complete and in print. It was only 24 pages, had a soft cover and two staples down the spine, I printed 500 copies. The book was titled: “How To Meet People And Make Friends Anywhere”. The magazine was out a few days before publication date, as a result of this I got several mail orders in my mail box and one guy even knocked on my door with cash in his hand to buy a book from me too. I was very excited, this was my first book and writing it only took me 6 weeks.

I got some help from the word processing place I went to in Collins Street in Melbourne CBD. She helped me with creating an A5 format for my book and the printers in Little Collins Street helped me get a graphics artist for the cover. Despite all of that and the editing help from my then wife, I still had errors right through my entire book …LOL

I can hardly contain my joy I had at that time for what it felt likeTO BEAN AUTHOR. I had both compliments from my book and a few stern criticisms about my material presented in the book. But I what was nothing more than a talk and an idea floating in my mind given as a talk about an issue I felt very strongly about was now a real book changing the lives of people everywhere.

It was so good I did it again 6 years later.

My next book was a lot longer, something like 141 pages in A5 format and it had a soft cover, glue binding and much better graphics inside. My second book was called: “Attracting Passionate Encounters” a book designed to help men and women date new partners.

I wrote about 100 pages in A4 page size and the graphics artist guy converted my files into A5 on his Apple Mac back in 1991. This was all a big deal then – but more importantly it only took 3 months of solid writing to construct the whole book.

Again this time I was selling my books by mail order and with an audio cassette as an add-on item to boost the sales income.

It was not always as easy

Prior to Amazon Kindle I was still writing and self-publishing various books and ebooks right up to 2012 when I started self-publishing on Amazon Kindle.

Most notably I worked on one book – an events manual big book all A4 sized and with many diagrams, pictures as well as online downloads to go with it and this big book took me 3 years to complete. It was in the end a 125 page manual.

However, it was done in parts. I completed about 55 pages of material in the book between 2002 and September 2005. Then one day I decided to pour all my time and effort that I could muster into the book till it was all done. So from September that year till end of November 2005 I was a busy bee worker and was so disciplined that I couldn’t even believe myself that I could write so fast.

It was well worth the effort – as I began advertising the manual in business for sale classifieds in December and set the price at $995 for the whole book plus downloads. To my own surprise I sold several of these manuals around the globe to buyers online and offline. To this day I still see it was one of my best book marketing and writing efforts.

But imagine if I had completed the book within the first year I’d thought about it?

Waiting those extra 3 years was costly in terms of what I could have earned from the book. While to me its an example of letting a book idea percolate and you get a slightly better book with the latest info and extra trimmings, I could have had all of that in 2002 if I had stepped on the peddle and got the manual out earlier even if it was raw and needed more work.

The people who were serious about its content didn’t worry about my spelling, grammar or my book layout. They were there to get the info inside the book.

Can you write a fiction book just as fast?

About 1993 I was first paid to write romance fiction articles for a singles magazine. It was neat getting checks for short articles. At the time I was writing non-fiction, but then I was asked to see if I could put together some erotic or romance fiction short stories. Yes, I could.

At first I thought, there must be something I could come up with and yes, I wrote stories based on what my friends told me was happening in their lives at the time but with my own twist on how they could have had a more positive outcome (I.E. how they could have got the lady/man they were pursuing) this became a lot of fun.

Fast Forward to today…. My first Kindle romance fiction ebook “The Mature Masseuse” was about 7,500 words long and took me about 2 weeks to complete back in early 2014.

One of the shortest of my books was “The Mature Wifey Masseuse” at around 5,990 words and took less than 5 days to complete and publish.

Some of my fiction titles have taken a little longer but I attribute the delays mostly due to getting both story lines and locality facts correct within the stories written. Some research is needed to make the book genuine especially if a locality or a suburb or city is quoted, I usually like to make sure the details read well. Sometimes I will need to do research on what was common fashion or practise ‘of the day’ if I’m quoting from a time period a few decades ago.

While its taken me many years to learn how to write and complete books faster, than ever before, you’ll benefit from this book by way of all the hard experience I’ve been through using my techniques and strategies. Most of all you’ll get your book out sooner if you follow the suggestions inside this book.

[] Strategy # 1

Perfectionism and Procrastination are Bed Partners

“A good plan violently executed now – is better than a perfect plan executed next week.”

– George S. Patton

In a classic case of explaining the examples about perfectionism to my first seminar I ran on self publishing an audience member made a startling confession to my group.

He had been sitting on a well-researched book, something like 14 years time since he started it. The book was in word doc format and he said to our group he was “up to his 700th revision of the document” since he started the book in 1999. He was as yet unpublished and may well have had many opportunities to have completed the task since he started the project.

By his own admission it was quite a long time.

But its not the longest I’ve heard of yet. A mate of mine after I moved into his flat in Melbourne came out with a proof copy of a novel he’d written 25 years before showing it to me. It wasn’t a published work, but an almost ready to be made copy.

Both these examples are what great academics can do with writing. But just writing a book isn’t enough.

One day you’ll have to front up and get your book published.

These days with self-publishing on Amazon Kindle you can be an author in less than 24 hours.

What’s the problem?

After encountering many authors over the years I think it comes down to just a few things;

Some would be authors are shy. A few people have attended my seminars and would love to be an author. But the mere thought of being published and “out there” in the wide world is too scary for them. This problem isn’t terminal; you can simply be an author and do so under a PENNAME. Guess what? I use the pen name “JR Passion” for some of my racy romance fiction books.

Some are worried they will be judged harshly by critics if even one sentence has bad grammar or bad spelling. To me this is a form of fanatical perfectionism. But its very typical of what exists out there and sadly a real stumbling block for a lot of potential writers.

Some are not so worried by outside critics; they are their own worst critic. Its often said we are hardest on ourselves than we are on others. If anything will give you a blockage, its often the person you see in the mirror each day.

Some are worried that their book may have factual inaccuracies. Now while I do believe you need to write a book with correct information, be it even a historical romance fiction story or a biography, you will not be able to eradicate all errors.

My 125 page events manual that I published in 2005 was a classic case. My girlfriend at the time found scores of spelling and grammar errors in the text. Yet when I asked customers of the book about the same issues, they said that yes they were aware of the errors but considered that par for the course when buying real experience versus an academically written book.

While others have worked so long on their project they lost enthusiasm for their book before it was finished. Early in my self-publishing career I was prone to writing material that became old as soon as I came back from a new wiz bang seminar that turned over the ideas I held dear only a weekend before. Then while looking at my second book, I even lost enthusiasm for promoting it faster than I could imagine.

Heck, imagine if I’d gone for the print run I really wanted to have?

These days if I spend longer than 3 months trying to hatch a book my own ‘ADHD’ will kick in and I’m likely to lose interest.

This is why I turnover books at a very high speed these days to avoid such a peril. I strongly recommend you do the same and work fast as possible to complete your own book and get it out there ASAP.

Its fair to say that when you dream an idea for a book, time starts ticking right then and there. You either get the idea into a book now …or someone else in the world will be given the idea and they will publish it and the ball will be snatched from your hands.

[] Strategy # 2

One big reason why most books never materialise is that would be authors never set a deadline to get it complete. Unless you have a deadline that you’re committed to you are sure to lack the driving focus needed to complete your work.

A deadline is the line in the sand that separates you from reality and day dreams. Sure you may sometimes have to change your deadline – but without one the goal of having a book won’t be as potent to start with.

If you’re just working on say your first or second book here’s what I suggest;

Gather up all the material you have written on your book to date. If it looks like you’re well advanced I suggest you pick a date 30 days from now to have it fully done. Not a day more.

If you’re beginning from total scratch – then pick a date about 1, 2 or 3 months away at the max. Then begin with your outline or chapter summaries. Make a sustained effort to create 2 to 4 pages a day or at least 1,000 words a day. This shouldn’t be too hard for you if you are passionate about your story or your topic.

Be willing to make some sacrifices to get your book done. By that I mean either getting up earlier or going to bed later or skipping some of your meetings or other events to meet your daily target of 2 to 4 pages a day. Be even willing to put in a few huge chunks of time for the sake of your book.

Block aside a weekend. I was really fired up by hearing from one author how she booked a Queens Birthday weekend at a Blue Mountains Motel and sat down with her laptop from Friday night to Monday to write her first book.

Be willing to put up with inconvenience. Most first time authors have to come down from the image that writing a book is like a Tuscany holiday portrayed in movies. When it comes to getting your book completed, you’d be surprized at the number of delays, problems, mistakes, re-writes, fact checking, editing errors and more that can walk into your life.

The ones who succeed adapt quickly and don’t take the knockbacks too seriously. They are willing to be flexible in order to get their book done, and you do too.

Write lists of what you have to get done in your diary. Unless you scribe a list of some sort of what needs to be done, you will be wandering around aimlessly. Tie the points down. Most of the time there can be as much as 20% of your book that will need some research or details to be checked. Whatever that is, write it down and use your diary to complete those tasks.

[] Strategy # 3

Have a Plan and Write Each Day Till It’s Done

“Failing to plan is planning to fail.”

– Alan Lakein

Before I penned my first book I read in a book by Dr Robert Anthony titled: “How to build a lucrative paid speaking and seminar business” (1985) – that writing a book could take as little as 2 months to complete simply by writing 2 pages per day, every day. He said that 2 pages a day adds up fast. In a month you’d have 60 pages and 2 months it would be 120 pages. At the time I thought this made it look so simple. I could visualize writing 2 pages a day as I was already scribing newsletters for my public speaking club and a few other things.

In fact I used the 2 page a day formula several times over with my first 5 books.

Ten years ago I came across another formula which was to write 500 to 1,000 words per day. This was practical since using MS Word; you always know what the word count is at the bottom left hand side of the page.

And yet even more recent, I have upgraded this to learn that I could write as much as 2,000 or even a massive 7,000 words in a single day if I really needed to.

But back to basics, if you write a ‘steady’ 1,000 words a day your book will be finished fast. Unless you do one main thing …plan your book.

PLANNINGYOURBOOKSAVESTIME

Its far easier to make a total plan for your book and then within reasonable expectations stick to your plan.

With my fiction books I plan out all the scenes within the story. Sometimes I need to make adjustments, but overall a scene map helps me complete a story much faster than dreaming it up while at my keyboard.

Non-fiction books also need a plan, and I do that by planning all the chapter titles and what unique info I can add to them.

When writing a non-fiction book I will write everything that is easy to write first. This leaves me about 30% of the book that will require some added research and once I have that I can then complete the book.

Other ways to get it done could include:

You can dictate your book with Dragon Dictate. While software based writing programs are not new, its vital to use all avenues to get the job done.

You can record your book on MP3 and get it transcribed. Speaking to your MP3 recorder and getting it transcribed online with a contractor thru www.fiverr.com will save you time and get your book out of your head onto paper.

You can outsource the writing to a ghost writer to get it done. Its now easier than ever to get a ghost writer to do part or all of your book. Again having a plan for your book is needed to make your books fit within your planned research and book structure.

Your book can be a hybrid of all these methods so that all you focus on is getting the job done and finished quickly.

Remember writing your “daily quota” can take you as little as 1 or 2 hours a day. That’s all. When I was doing some temp work last year I managed to do my writing an hour before I started my job and sometimes added another hour to this after I left my work. But I was able to use the temp work as leverage to push me to keep my writing targets.

What if I skip a day or I’m sick or have to fly interstate for a meeting?

Fair comment.

To that I say, just get back on it the next day and keep on writing your daily quota. Don’t beat yourself up about it.

Like all things – making writing each day as a routine can become just as important to as drinking that cup of coffee you take each day.

Some days I’m more on fire than other days, but when I can I will even write more to use that fire inside me. What fires me up? Often its two things; self-imposed deadlines, and the other is getting my next book in the mass media – such as TV Radio, Newspapers or Magazines.

Then on some days when I’m almost at a loss to work on my books, I will turn to writing one of my magazine articles, as I’m a magazine writer too, this helps me keep my mind sharp and I still count this towards my daily quota. I get a big thrill (even after all these years in the game) by seeing my articles in magazines at the newsagents.

[] Strategy # 4

Don’t Wait For Inspiration

[* *** The 1976 movie: “All The Presidents Men” is an important case study of not waiting for inspiration to get a story finished. *]

LEXIMETHERELL: Richard Nixon remains the only US president to have resigned and it happened as a direct consequence of Ben Bradlee’s stewardship of one of the biggest stories of last century.

The executive editor of the Washington Post and his journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein doggedly pursued the Watergate scandal despite the huge pressure from the White House not to.

Bradlee later said it was the story that put the paper on the map.

It also put his reputation for swearing and for pushing his journalists to get the whole story on the big screen in the film, ‘All the President’s Men’.

(Excerpt from All The President’s Men)

JASONROBERTS (PLAYINGBENBRADLEE): Look, McGovern’s dropped to nothing, Nixon’s guaranteed the renomination, the Post is stuck with a story no-one else wants, it’ll sink the goddamn paper. Everyone says, “Get off it, Ben”, and I come on very sage and I say, “Well, you’ll see, you wait till this bottoms out.” But the truth is, I can’t figure out what we’ve got.

What else you working on?

CARLBERNSTEIN (DUSTINHOFFMAN): Well we’re after a list of CREEP employees.

BENBRADLEE (JASONROBARDS): Where is it?

BOBWOODWARD (ROBERTREDFORD): It’s classified.

BENBRADLEE (JASONROBARDS): How you gonna get it?

BOBWOODWARD: We haven’t had any luck yet.

BENBRADLEE (JASONROBARDS): Get some.

The scene is earmarked on the DVD as “We haven’t had any luck” but if it wasn’t for Ben Bradlee pushing the story Bob and Carl may have slackened off completely and we’d have never heard about Watergate.

Waiting for inspiration can be a very unpredictable way to live as a writer. When you’re writing a book, you don’t have to luxury to wait casually till some idea drops into your head and fires you up to start typing. Otherwise you’ll grow old very fast.

Prior to writing my first book I was already writing almost weekly for my business breakfast group’s newsletter. We had several items that had to be in the newsletter each week. But room left over that I filled up all by myself. So every week no matter how I felt, I kept dreaming up items to make the newsletter interesting and a fun read. As a result people in my group loved getting my 2 page newsletter and gave out copies to potential new members. Writing was a lot of fun and I loved looking for new news items to amuse or educate my readers.

Your brain works best when its pumped, prodded, stimulated, given reminders, flashbacks, what ifs, shocked, surprized, jolted, even tortured or interrogated into coming up with ideas. The ideas where there all along, but unless you get some brain stimulation, you may not know what’s in your head already. Oh and a great cup of coffee before writing couldn’t hurt either.

Writing a book isn’t too much different

All around you are news items and bits of stories ready to be told. You just have to have open eyes to see what you’re already seeing.

Read other books in your niche area. When I wrote my second book it was the daily visits to the state library that fed my mind with giant slabs of information that fired me up to write many thousands of words each day and complete my second book in 3 months flat.

Keep a file folder with newsclips from the paper. Unless you do keep some text from regular news sources you are missing a great public resource available to you. Many great ideas are just sitting on the surface of daily life. For example the TV show “The Brady Bunch” was inspired from a news article about divorced couples remarrying with kids and the impact of that. A seemingly simple article was enough factual prompting that a highly successful TV show came to life. But the basis for good stories are often rooted in real life.

Keep a file on your computer for stories to file you copy from the news. Hardly a day goes by that I can’t spot some well researched article with hard facts and info that could be useful for a future book. Doing a page select and copy to a word doc is my standard technique when swiping material already in the news and most great items are delivered by our media gods. I file stories into file folders daily and it takes no more than 10 minutes a day to keep this method going.

Keep a pocket notepad and a pen handy, even beside your bed at night too. This method probably seems obvious, but its easily overlooked as a great way to keep your mind spinning and recording those ideas.

Visit your local library or your main city library. While books are everywhere even on your Kindle device or app, visiting a library puts you in a “frame of mind” that helps you to harvest ideas and material you might have otherwise overlooked. When swatting up for a few of my books I not only read other books, but most libraries have books in microfiche format which make excellent reading.

Scribe up a list of people to interview for your book. It’s said that everyone knows about an average of 250 people. In that circle you’d be able to ask to sit with a dozen of them and ask them about their experiences. People love to share. They really do, and if you’re a good listener you’d be surprised at what is only going to cost you a cup of coffee and your notepad or MP3 recording device to record the words from people you know.

A few years ago (the late 1990’s) friend of mine called Brett Kelly wrote a whole book titled “Collective Wisdom” all based on interviews he did with famous Australian identities. These were people such as politicians, sports stars, community leaders, TV star, up and coming business start-ups and retired patriarchs. He was unemployed at the time and even used that fact to score interviews saying he wanted to help inspire the young with his new book. Almost everyone he asked helped him with an interview …or they helped him with connecting him to a famous person to interview for his book. When his book came out it was a smashing success. All the media was a buzz over his book and he was himself interviewed on TV radio and newspapers magazines and asked to be a guest speaker.

Now your book may or may not need interviews with well-known people, I don’t know, but you can certainly improve your book by asking around and speaking with others. The possibilities by asking for interviews can be enormous, not only for the content of your book, but the media potential after its published.

Don’t wait for inspiration to strike you down with a bolt of lightning, go out and be a storm chaser yourself.

[] Strategy # 5

The Perfect Place To Write

“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.”

– Carl Jung

A friend of mine suggested that if I was going to be a writer that I should immediately move to the country. And over the years I have seen many friends move from the city to distant places away from the suburbs to Byron Bay or to Devonport in Tasmania.

To me this seems impractical and unnecessary.

Sitting at home all day doing your writing isn’t what I feel to be a productive environment. Often the home or flat can have more distractions than you’d care to acknowledge. It’s a big reason why most would be authors struggle to get their books completed in the first place.

While I do have a home office, I mostly use it to do my “spit and polish” work on my writing and its not my core working space. At home I get documents printed, use my computer to do research for book material and outsourcing work to get done on Fiverr.com. But 80% of my writing is done while at cafes during the daytime.

Your situation may be different.

Most authors say that you need a quiet place to work. Well yes and no. you won’t complete your book if the search for a pristine quiet place is on your agenda.

I’ve worked from the tables at cafes like Donut King even while screaming kids are sitting right behind me. I’ve also worked at some public libraries which are just as noisy with students talking. After all these years, I have yet to locate the ‘perfect place’. Let’s just say they are perfect for a short time only.

Also at a café its impossible to feel alone. You’re right among the action, real life happening right around you.

What’s the goal here?

Yes, its writing and completing your book.

If the goal is important to you, then by all means look for a great place work from, but be willing to compromise and get working anywhere at all, anyway.

Work in short bursts. In my case I write in bursts of 60, 90 or 120 minutes at a time. If I’ve purchased a coffee and a yummy pastry at a café I feel I’ve “invested in the time” at that café, and I want to get that investment back. The writing will come easy.

Do some reading before you sit down to write. On the day I will carry my notes or have done some research ahead of my writing. This applies just as much to my fiction books too, if not more. I put myself in a “frame of mind” that means I’m writing like the main character in my book. I will see, hear, feel, think, all the things that my characters need to make my story work.

Think of the main goal; be willing to put up with a less than perfect place to get the writing done. They say a week is a long time in politics; same is true with writing I feel. I think you have to assume you will always get distractions that “seem” to be important. But not everything is a life or death matter. You need to focus on your goal of completing your book rather than getting everything perfect.

[] Strategy # 6

Persistence

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”

– Calvin Coolidge

To be a writer you do need a fair bit of persistence. Not only while you’re writing a book, but even while assembling ideas and thoughts to complete a task of just one book requires some level of persistence.

The Harry Potter book series created by J K Rowling came at a time in her life when her hopes were seemingly at her lowest. She was on welfare and luxuries were as simple as the café she worked from to do her writing. But her dreams were bigger than her surroundings at the time.

A friend of mine Allan Pease who wrote the book “Body Language” first released in 1981 spent almost 10 years writing his first book. But if he didn’t persist at getting his first book off the ground we may have never heard of him. He has since gone on to write over 15 books and sold well over 27 million copies of all his titles worldwide.

Allan Pease not only self-published his books but has given well over 100 to 200 speeches a year around the world and numerous TV Radio newspaper and magazine appearances for the last 4 decades – which has elevated his book sales to a super stellar level.

If you have a real desire to get your book out there, you will encounter all kinds of obstacles at all points of the book writing, production and marketing phases.

Writers block is only a tiny fraction of the hurdles you’ll need to jump over if you want to get a book released into the hands of the public.

To be persistent you do need self-discipline. If you make a plan it requires you to be able to stick to the plan. You’re going to need to write a few pages each day and to keep writing every day regardless of how you feel or what the weather is like.

Where people often come unstuck is that they let distractions take them away from the target of completing their book.

How to stay on track:

Keep a log book or spreadsheet of your daily writing word counts. This could be as simple as keeping a notebook in your pocket with a log of your daily writing attempts in written form. Or you could do something more elaborate such as an Excel Spreadsheet and log your daily word counts and file that way on your laptop or PC.

Have a friend who will nudge you and nag you to keep going. The simple matter of having a friend who knows you well enough to ask you or prod you daily or weekly as what work you’ve done on your book could be just the thing you need. Most writers are not accountable to anyone and that’s why they never achieve much. While some who write for a living such as journalists usually have an editor or manager above them to check up on their writing, the vast majority don’t.

Do printouts of your writing progress on a frequent basis. Some writers seem to live almost entirely on their computers or tablets. As such they never “see” the result of their works. By doing a regular printout of your pages and notes you’ll easily see what needs to be done and conceptualize your writing project. Once you can see what you’re doing, all at once, its easier to see what is left to be done.

Draw a flow diagram of what the reader will experience while reading your book. If your book is complex it helps to make a flow diagram of what the reader will see or need to see in your book to make sense to them. This also helps you with creating sense out of where your project is at and the important parts left to complete.

Writing a proper outline or a summary of all the parts of your story or key points covered in your book. Like the old saying; “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Its very true with book writing. Quite a lot of would be authors write without a plan and dream up what to say only in front of their screens. We call these people “pantsers” as they write ‘by the seat of their pants’. While this may work for some, its not a way to work for a serious writer who wants a book done and dusted.

[] Strategy # 7

It’s All In The Mind

“If you think you can or you think you can’t …either way you’re right.”

*
p<>{color:#000;}. Henry Ford

I was surprised to read in an online post where a reader of a book said that he wanted to see more of the how than the mental secrets behind writing fast. But I firmly believe writing a book is nearly all the mental stuff.

Lets face it you need to come up with a book idea, you need to write it yourself mostly and then you have to deal with the public and getting them to read your finished work.

At many points along the production of your book you are the sole decision maker and arbitrator of making the project work and seeing that the content you created is read the way you’ve intended it to be.

What holds writers back?

I’m not a great writer. Hey, join the club! Sydney based TV psychologist Toby Green said at one of her speeches in 1999 that she was called up by a newspaper and asked to write for it. She jokingly said: “Okay but you’d better have a great editor as I’m not a great writer.” However the writing gig lead to her writing a few books later on and she became a great writer in the process.

My material is too controversial for the public to read. Well that’s very good, if your book was too middle of the road and trying to please everyone, chances are it won’t get read either. I’ll admit getting original ideas out there in the open can be confronting. But mostly for the readers not the writer. Unless your book is like Salman Rushdie’s: “Satanic Verses” and you need to find a new place to sleep every 48 hours, the rest us writers don’t have that much to worry about.

But whatever you do don’t tone your work down because you think it might put a few noses out of joint. Over the years I’ve had many brick bats as well as bouquets. Even in the process of writing this book I’ve encountered hurdles from unexpected quarters too. Not all writers out there agree with my techniques about writing books. I discovered this when giving talks about writing and self-publishing fairly recently. But I think my detractors might be too sensitive when as a group we all see different sides of the writing picture.

JK Rowling’s Harry Potter books were at one stage banned from some schools. Yes, banned! The headmasters thought the books were about witchcraft and occult worship.

No one will read this book anyway. Yeah, sure they will. But they certainly won’t read it if you don’t write it first. Steven King said: “Being a writer has a lot of room for self-doubt.” He went onto to say: “It’s a lot like rowing across the Atlantic in a bathtub.” Its even harder if you are starting out completely cold, new and with little experience. The only way to resolve this dilemma is not to go too slow, but to actually speed up your writing and publishing.

A writer who delays the completion of his or her book is open to all those demons of the mind to take over and halt the book’s progress.

The best cure is getting your book out quickly as possible. You maybe well be surprized to find you’re not as bad as you thought you were. You might be delighted to find someone come up to you and greet you with a personal thankyou for writing your book.

The important thing here is to “stay on message” as one of my PR friend’s puts it. If things do look dark for you, maybe it’s all the more reason to stick with it and get your book out there. Get your book out quickly and while the information in it is current and hot topic for yourself to talk about.

[] Strategy # 8

Final Countdown to Publication

[_ "80% of success ...is just showing up" _]

– Woody Allen

The day will approach faster than ever. Are you going to be ready?

These days I plan most of my new books from the launch backwards. But before we get to launch your book, you need to check that you’ve done all the component parts of your book first.

When your book project is getting some ground speed and you look like you’ve got about 10 pages into your project its time to get ready in advance for when you’ll finish writing and releasing your book.

Why so early?

Its mostly due to the fact that there are a lot of items that need to be crossed off your book preparation that you simply can’t leave it to the very end and stagnate your book launch by fiddling around with all the items that can easily be done concurrently whilst writing your book.

Edit Your Book As You Go

Another thing that ties up would be authors is the matter of editing their book. This can be time consuming to the extreme. What’s more you can in most cases get your book *_*edited progressively*_ saving massive amounts of time at the publication phase of your new book.

[By that I mean edit your book in big chunks or chapters, but don’t edit while you’re actually writing!*]Always edit AFTER you’ve done some writing, maybe the next day but never while you’re writing, or you’ll never get the job done effectively.

Pick a time to stop writing – and then you MUST go into publication phase after that date

Unless you want to write the “perfect book” which never really exists you simply must draw a date in your diary and say at this date I stop writing any new material for the book. Many great books are sitting in the C Drive’s of computers worldwide as you read this all due to a would be author who won’t stop writing their book.

If newspapers, TV shows and all the other media has a deadline for stories, let’s face it so should you. Learn to stick to your deadline and get the book out there!

THE ‘READY FORPUBLICATION’ CHECKLIST

The Book Cover – you can get a cover for your book (either a Createspace book cover or a Kindle e-cover) done on Fiverr.com

The Title – do some research and come up with a catchy but not corny title for your book. It must be short, yet be able to grab the interest of readers in your book’s niche genre.

The Sub Title – this can support your book’s title and may also have keywords vital which your reader will use to search for your book.

The Book Description – here is where you sell your book. You’ve got up to 4,000 words on Amazon to tell a captivating text for readers to get their appetite for your book going.

The chapter index of your book if you have one – if relevant, knowing your chapter index or table of contents will be important to sell your book. Especially long copy books.

The ‘book categories’ your book will be found on Amazon. Categorizing your books correctly means that readers will find you quickly.

Book keywords – on Amazon for instance you’ll need to categorize your book by its keywords, its vital that you are aware of what your book will be found by what search keyword terms

Your book ISBN number – you can buy an ISBN (International Standard Book Number) on ThorpeBowker.com But if you’re publishing on either Amazon.com or Shakespir.com or both, you will find they can help you with this in some cases.

Pre book matter – at the start of each book are things like – copyright notice, legal disclaimers, author contact info, website links and book data info (EG page numbers, word count etc).

Back book matter – at the back of some books you’ll discover are things like bibliography data, links to websites, author contact info, free offers and more.

These extra items while not crucial are vital to your book’s overall success

Reviews from well-known people or media people – this can help be a motivator to getting your book done too. Its also a great resource for feedback from experts in your field.

Your book links to add on material for readers – help you’re readers by giving them links and after reading material. Even a short video on YouTube can be a great help to a reader who needs that personal touch from you to explain key items of text behind your book.

Its important that you treat your book like a business. Below are some suggested questions you need to ask yourself now and again in the future till the job is done.

*
p<>{color:#000;}. Right this minute, this day what do you know you need to get done so that your book will be completed?

*
p<>{color:#000;}. How soon can you get each of those items done?

*
p<>{color:#000;}. Are there any major road blocks? If so, is it that important to the book or can you skip them for the time being?

*
p<>{color:#000;}. How much time can you prioritize to get your TO DO LIST completed?

*
p<>{color:#000;}. Do you have a diary to track your progress?

*
p<>{color:#000;}. Do you keep all your book details in a single folder?

*
p<>{color:#000;}. Do you keep your word documents on your computer in one easy to locate file folder?

*
p<>{color:#000;}. At what date in the future can I get all things done so that I can publish my book?

Once again, despite all the planning you do, remember to go for getting your book printed. Rather than the perfect book that will never be printed. I’ve had to make compromises many times to get my books over the line.

You can always do arevised and updated versionafterwards when your book is already making money and paying for itself. I do this often with my tour guide books. I’m in a constant battle to keep info up-to-date, so a few times each year I will update the books and re upload them to Kindle. Readers love this and it keeps my books new and fresh.

[] Strategy # 9

Your Book Launch

“Most writers like to maintain some sort of anonymity. For me, making videos was an assault.”

– Sheryl Crow

Your book launch is very important if you want to sell your book. Sadly most writers think ‘selling is beneath them’ and don’t want to have any fuss over the matter or even confront a potential prospective book buyer.

A book launch can be exciting and financially very rewarding too.

There are two types of book launches I will talk about here today and both can be done together if you want to for your book.

#
p<>{color:#000;}. A virtual book launch – i.e. an online book launch

#
p<>{color:#000;}. A public meeting event book launch

You’ve worked hard at producing a great book and you want to share that time with all your friends and family or workmates at a celebration. Remember they’ve probably said to your over many weeks “How’s that book of yours coming along?” well here’s your chance to show them the endline product.

From a psychological point of view its also important for you to have a little celebration. Writing a book can often be a solitaire thing. Sharing your creation with the rest of the world is a booster for you that your hard work is seen by others not just by you and a validation of your book going to readers who want a connection with their author. Nothing can be more pleasing than connecting with customers and being paid for your book while doing so.

One of my best book launches was with my second book. I had booked an auditorium and ran classified ads in the big city paper, attracted about 100 people, had a 4 piece jazz band with a singer prior to the start of my talk and despite a few minor glitches, it was the best night I’d had at the time. My book was a dating guide book and as result of the launch I had a very profitable one day seminar about 3 weeks after the book launch night.

Working towards your book launch party can be an extra motivator to getting your book complete. Nothing beats a deadline and sending out invites and selling your book at the event.

[] By The Same Author

The Local Sydney Tour Guide: See Sydney From The Best Cafes To The Best Habourside Attractions [Kindle Edition] By David Newtonhttp://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A9HAQTY

The Local Melbourne Tour Guide: By David Newtonhttp://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U7HGFLY

The Mature Recruitment Consultant: “Sleep with me and I’ll get you any job you want” [Kindle Edition] JR Passion (Author)http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MEW8FV8

www.ClimaxTales.com

[]Contacting The Author

David Newton has been writing books and magazine articles on personal development and small business topic for many years. He frequently gives talks at seminar events in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

He also has a social walking tours social group in Sydney and Melbourne, which he has been running since 2003.

David has been trained in Neuro-Linguistic-Programming (NLP), Stand-up Comedy and previously worked as a Futures Trader in the Financial Markets.

Finish That Book You’re Writing

Finish That Book You’re Writing
Are you writing a book and you’ve hit the doldrums?
Do you run for cover when friends ask you 'how that book of yours' is going?
If your goal was to complete the task and finish your book you’re not the first to become overwhelmed by too many items to work on to complete it. This book gives you many down to earth practical tips on how you can get it all done and dusted.
What this book holds for you;
• Handy writing ideas to get you firing again and working towards completing your book
• Easy to follow checklists and writing tips
• How you can stay motivated and ‘on track’ till the very end
• How to deal with self-doubt, criticism and lack of focus
• How to reinvigorate your book publishing goal so that you’re excited about it along with others around you too
As an author myself I’ve written and self-published over 30 books, so I’ve been where you are right now. I’ve gone through every emotion and set back you could think of and more. This book is a result of how I’ve tackled those setbacks.
You can get published just follow the steps in this book and you’ll be there very soon.
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